1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an inexpensive dosing bottle for consistently dispensing exactly the same volume of liquid. Inside a body of the bottle there is a dosing chamber which communicates with the bottle opening. When the bottle is tipped forward, only the liquid in the dosing chamber is dispensed, without any other liquid being able to flow into the dosing chamber from inside the bottle. When the bottle is tipped back into its starting position, the dosing chamber re-fills.
2. Description of Prior Art
It is often desirable to dose a predetermined, consistent volume of liquid from a bottle. This is true for detergents, washing powders, pesticides, fertilizers, syrups, mouthwashes and other fluids. The dosing operation is usually carried out with a separate measuring beaker, or the bottle top is used as a measuring beaker. One disadvantage of dosing in this manner is that the dosing operation is physically awkward because one needs two hands for operation and the accuracy of the dose depends on the user and is often improperly dosed. There is a risk of spilling liquid during dosing.
Furthermore, the measuring beaker has to be rinsed out after each use, otherwise the outside of the neck of the bottle gets smeared with dripping liquid after screwing on the top used as the measuring beaker. With concentrates in particular, there is a real danger of under-dosing or over-dosing because the measuring beaker can easily be filled to above or below the dosing mark in haste, or depending on the temperament and dexterity of the user. If the liquid being dosed has to be poured, for example into a filling inlet with a screw top or snap-shut top, the user may lack enough hands to pour a dose of liquid from the bottle into the filling inlet. For example, the user needs one hand to hold the screw top or snap-shut top of the filling inlet, which leaves him with just one hand for the dosing and pouring operation. The user therefore has no other alternative but to hold the bottle with one hand, unscrew the measuring beaker with the other hand, and proceed to dose the liquid, after which the user sets the bottle down somewhere, thereby leaving one hand free to take off or hold open the top on the filling inlet.
The prior art proposes a number of solutions for more conveniently dosing a volume of liquid from a bottle by equipping such bottles with dosing chambers. Bottles of this type are based on some same physical principles as of this invention.
Adams, U.S. Pat. No. 3,107,031, for example, shows a dosing bottle with an L-shaped tube on an inside, of which a bottom end, which is angled because of an L shape, forms an actual dosing chamber. One disadvantage of this prior art solution is that, because of its shape, the tube cannot be introduced into a finished manufactured bottle. The two halves of the bottle therefore have to be stuck or welded together after the L-shaped tube is fitted. This is an expensive solution. Furthermore, when the level of liquid in the bottle falls to the top edge of the dosing chamber, for example the top edge of the part of the L-shaped tube disposed horizontally in the bottle, the doses become smaller and smaller, because at the level of the dosing chamber, liquid is captured from the bottom part of the bottle out of the range of the dosing chamber. As a result, it is impossible to empty the bottle completely. There will always be a certain volume that remains outside the dosing chamber.
Great Britain Patent Reference GB 407,854 shows a dosing container in a shape of a sheet metal canister with a tube fitted inside it. The dosing chamber is formed by a separation with a second bottom. Compared with current designs, this sheet metal canister is an expensive, complicated construction which is intended for both larger volumes of liquids and greater doses.
It is one object of this invention to overcome the disadvantages described above and to create a dosing bottle which, being of a very simple construction and method of production, is extremely inexpensive to manufacture, and also allows the user to reliably and conveniently dose a fixed volume of liquid, particularly with one hand.
In a dosing bottle for dispensing fixed doses, according to this invention, the bottle can be made in one piece from plastic using a blow molding or injection molding method, using one or several mash seams or a constriction in the bottle walls to form, at the bottom of the bottle, a separate dosing chamber with an opening passing through an inside of the bottle. The dosing chamber communicates with an outlet tube which runs through the inside of the bottle to the outlet so that whenever the bottle is tipped forwards by 90xc2x0 to 180xc2x0 from an upright position into a pouring position, only the liquid in the dosing chamber can be poured out of the bottle.